Not long enough

It felt like you had barely sat down when you heard Mom’s voice and were broken out of your train of thought. Each of the girls had at least two shopping bags each and each of them seemed to have come from a different store. One of the ones that Lucy was holding caught your eye as it was from the same place that you had been stuck in earlier but you quickly stopped yourself from staring to avoid further suspicion.

“Right we better get moving. I don't know about you guys but I’m starving after all that rushing about” Mom said, forcing you to get up before you headed off towards where you had first entered the mall.

You started to walk side by side with Mom while Lucy and Sarah went on ahead, when you noticed that Mom’s pace seemed to have slowed since you had last been with her.

“Here let me,” you offered, motioning to grab the bags that she was carrying. They didn't look particularly heavy but Mom seemed grateful for the offer.

“Thanks, it's been a while since those two have dragged me around like that” she replied, with an almost nostalgic smile. Suddenly Sarah popped up right in front of you and thrust her two bags into your arms before rushing off back to Lucy.

“You're welcome!” you shouted, getting only a smirk from Lucy and a stuck-out tongue from Sarah before they turned back around and carried on walking. With a sigh, you carried on walking next to Mom and slowly dragged yourself back towards the car. It was still what you would consider early afternoon but Mom’s mention of food had perked up your appetite enough that some italian sounded great. All four of you made it back outside and to the car, where you and Lucy went towards the trunk.

“I’m surprised you didn’t make me carry your things as well” you commented to Lucy as you deposited four out of the six bags.

“I bet you’d like getting your hands on what I’m wearing wouldn't you?” She shot back, slamming the trunk shut and moving around to the front passenger seat. You looked up to see Mom had heard the interaction between the two of you and got into the driver's seat with a frown on her face. Sarah had been the first to get in and had largely been unaware of the commotion until she heard the slam and was startled enough to jump in her seat.

Being the last one left outside, you quickly got in the car and settled in for a short trip. Mom started the car and explained the restaurant she picked out was only a few minutes away and with your early arrival you were bound to miss the rush of people looking to have a night out.

On the way, Sarah took it upon herself to show you everything that she could conceivably think of about her phone and even though you knew most of it already, you let her ramble on as a way to pass the time. Lucy still kept her eye on you through the rearview mirror but Sarah had squished herself up against you in order for you to both see the screen.

Lucy didn't seem to be best pleased about that but she couldn't exactly ask her to stop without ruining Sarah’s mood so she just sat there silently staring daggers at you. You carried on talking to Sarah even with your other sister glaring at you and went over some of the apps(other than the KDK) that you thought she would probably want to get. Most of the social media ones were already installed but you went through the process of how to get the others even though it seemed pretty simple to you. You even went through a few games that you thought she might like and instead of ignoring them as you expected, she actually went ahead and installed them.

By the time you had gone through everything, Mom was just pulling into the parking lot of the place she had picked out and although you were able to find a place to park, there weren't many spaces left and the restaurant seemed a lot busier than any of you expected for this time of day.

“Let's take the crowd as a good sign shall we?” You said, earning a smile from Mom as you all got out of the car and headed to the entrance.

“Grace was the one how recommended the place. Apparently her and Emma have been together a few times and she only had good things to say” Mom revealed. There was no doubt that Grace had been the one to drag Emma along when the two of them came here and the image of that put a smile on your face. You were surprised to hear that Grace would go visit a restaurant that probably had quite carb-heavy cuisine but you hadn't seen the menu yet so there were probably some lighter meals that would suit her, especially if she and Emma had been more than once.

You walked up the front steps to see the name of the restaurant ‘La Dolce Vita’ spread across the front of the building. The place looked quite modern from the outside with the white logo written out in cursive on a black background but once you got inside, the interior was completely different. There were posters and memorabilia hung up in every possible place and it was hard to even see an empty patch of wall. The tables and booths all resembled what looked like a 1950s diner but with a red, white and green colour scheme to resemble the Italian flag.

“Well this is...unexpected” Sarah blurted out, not willing to say what you were all thinking.

“If Grace recommended it then it must have at least something going for it” You added, earning yourself a nod from Mom.

You waited in the entrance hall they had set up before being greeted by a hostess. Her uniform looked professional and sleek, unlike the garish interior and She managed to quickly take your details before anyone could ask any questions and guided you all to a booth right in the corner of the room. Your seating had quite high walls and offered enough privacy so that you didn't feel crowded even with the huge amount of other customers. You were the first to the table so you squeezed into the booth and pushed yourself further in and waited for the others to sit down.